Controlled surface charging as a depth-profiling probe for mesoscopic layers

Probing the structure of material layers just a few nanometres thick requires analytical techniques with high depth sensitivity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) provides one such method, but obtaining vertically resolved structural information from the raw data is not straightforward. There are several XPS depth-profiling methods, including ion etching, angle-resolved XPS (ref. 2) and Tougaard's approach, but all suffer various limitations. Here we report a simple, non-destructive XPS depth-profiling method that yields accurate depth information with nanometre resolution. We demonstrate the technique using self-assembled multilayers on gold surfaces; the former contain 'marker' monolayers that have been inserted at predetermined depths. A controllable potential gradient is established vertically through the sample by charging the surface of the dielectric overlayer with an electron flood gun. The local potential is probed by measuring XPS line shifts, which correlate directly with the vertical position of atoms. We term the method 'controlled surface charging' and expect it to be generally applicable to a large variety of mesoscopic heterostructures.     

Plasma sheet stretching accompanied by field aligned energetic ion fluxes observed by the NUADU instrument aboard TC-2

The NUADU (NeUtral Atom Detector Unit) instrument aboard TC-2 recorded 4л solid angle images of charged particles (E >180 keV) spiraling around the magnetic field lines in the near-Earth plasma sheet (at ~ -7 RE, equatorial dawn-to-night side) during a geomagnetic storm (Dst =-219 nT) on August 24, 2005. Energetic ion beam events characterized by symmetrical, ring-like, solid angle distributions around ambient magnetic field lines were observed during a 34-minute traversal of the plasma sheet by the TC-2 spacecraft. Also, observations during these multiple crossings of the plasma sheet were monitored by the magnetometer experiment (FGM) aboard the same spacecraft. During each crossing, a whistler-mode chorus enhancement was observed in the anisotropic area by the TC-2 low frequency electromagnetic wave detector (LFEW/TC-2) at a frequency just above that of the local lower hybrid wave. A comparison of the ion pitch angle distribution (PAD) map with the ambient magnetic field shows that an enhancement in the field aligned energetic ion flux was accompanied by tailward stretching of the magnetic field lines in the plasma sheet. In contrast, the perpendicular ion-flux enhancement was accompanied by a signature indicating the corresponding shrinkage of the magnetic field lines in the plasma sheet. Since both parallel ion-flux and perpendicular ion-flux enhancements occurred intermittently, the data were interpreted to imply a dynamical, oscillatory process of the magnetic field line (stretching and shrinking) in the near-Earth plasma sheet, which might have acted to help establish an interaction region in this area which would support continuous aurora-substorm triggering during the ongoing magnetic storm. The whistler-mode chorus may have been produced due to ion gyro-resonance during particle pitch angle diffusion after the plasma sheet compression.     

工程师和科学家的数学方法1——复杂分析、行列式和矩阵

本书的作者在大学讲授应用数学有30多年，在教学中发现，已有的一些教材并不完全适用，于是作者根据实际情况，逐步用自已的方式教学，最后编写了本书。虽然书中的内容并不是全新的，但表述的方式要比已有教材好，使大学生容易阅读，因此，     

Complete genome sequence of a multiple drug resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi CT18.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. typhi) is the aetiological agent of typhoid fever, a serious invasive bacterial disease of humans with an annual global burden of approximately 16 million cases, leading to 600,000 fatalities. Many S. enterica serovars actively invade the mucosal surface of the intestine but are normally contained in healthy individuals by the local immune defence mechanisms. However, S. typhi has evolved the ability to spread to the deeper tissues of humans, including liver, spleen and bone marrow. Here we have sequenced the 4,809,037-base pair (bp) genome of a S. typhi (CT18) that is resistant to multiple drugs, revealing the presence of hundreds of insertions and deletions compared with the Escherichia coli genome, ranging in size from single genes to large islands. Notably, the genome sequence identifies over two hundred pseudogenes, several corresponding to genes that are known to contribute to virulence in Salmonella typhimurium. This genetic degradation may contribute to the human-restricted host range for S. typhi. CT18 harbours a 218,150-bp multiple-drug-resistance incH1 plasmid (pHCM1), and a 106,516-bp cryptic plasmid (pHCM2), which shows recent common ancestry with a virulence plasmid of Yersinia pestis.